ProPlus Design Solutions Inc.  unveiled 9812DX™ wafer-level 1/f noise characterization system, an enhanced version of its de facto standard 9812D™, setting records for measurement speed, system resolution and coverage of different types of measurement requirements.

With this announcement, 9812DX becomes the most advanced, fastest and complete noise characterization system on the market, offering improved specifications and measurement capabilities from earlier noise measurement systems. The new system tackles increasing measurement challenges of various advanced process technologies and the exploding number of noise measurements to meet the needs of process quality monitoring, statistical noise analysis and advanced circuit designs.

It includes a more than 10X increase in system resolution, as well as a speedup boost three-to-10 times faster than previous systems, higher voltage support up to 200V, and lower current support down to 0.1nA. 9812DX adds a wider range of measurement conditions and device types than offered by 9812D.

“With 9812DX, we strengthen our 1/f noise characterization leadership position and extend our systems offerings for current and future process development and advanced circuit design needs,” remarks Dr. Zhihong Liu, chairman and chief executive officer of ProPlus Design Solutions. “9812DX is a technological leap forward with unbeatable specifications, performance and measurement capabilities.”

Superior Capabilities

9812DX provides a true 10 megahertz (MHz) bandwidth for accurate on-wafer noise measurement and user can also measure very low-frequency noises starting at 0.03Hz. 9812DX has the lowest system resolution for on-wafer measurement at 1×10-27A2/Hz, a 10X+ improvement over 9812D. It enables noise measurement of extreme low DC current at 0.1nA, a requirement for advanced designs that need to bias devices at weak inversion conditions, dark current noise of photodiodes or image sensors for many consumer, communication, automotive and industrial applications.

Additionally, it handles high-voltage device operations up to 200V and a wider range of measurement conditions and device types. Those include bulk MOSFET, FinFET, FD-SOI, bipolar junction transistors (BJTs) and junction field effect transistors (JFETs) and various diodes, such as photo, laser and Zener diodes, wide range of resistors (10 to 10M ohm), including voltage-controlled resistors, and integrated circuits (ICs).

9812DX is the only system on the market that supports a complete range of impedance for both high and low impedance devices and works with the most advanced technology nodes, from 16-nanometer (nm) and 14nm to 10nm and 7nm technology development.

Fastest Noise System

9812DX sets the high-speed record for on-wafer noise characterization –– at least three-to-10 times faster than 9812D, with typical noise measurement time of less than 10 seconds per bias. This performance boost is due to improved software algorithms and hardware architecture. Improved measurement speed enables rapid data collection to manage increasing amounts of noise measurements required by process quality monitoring, statistical variation analysis and advanced circuit designs.

ProPlus offers M9800, a parallel noise measurement system for users that require higher throughput. It achieves an additional two-to-four times throughput improvement using one prober station as compared to a 9812DX system.

Golden Noise Characterization Systems Since 1990s

ProPlus has supplied noise characterization systems since the late 1990s when it introduced the 9603, the first in the series. It was followed by 9812A and 9812B that has been the golden noise measurement system for more than 100 semiconductor companies and research institutions worldwide for more than 15 years.

Its 9812D was introduced in 2013, and has become the de facto standard after rapid adoption by all leading foundries, top integrated device manufacturers (IDMs) and fabless semiconductor companies for all advanced process nodes.

ProPlus will demonstrate the new 9812DX noise system, along with its advanced nano-scale SPICE modeling tool, during the 2016 IEEE International Electron Device Meeting (IEDM). IEDM will be held Monday, December 3, through Wednesday, December 7, from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square in San Francisco, Calif.

To schedule a private meeting at IEDM, send email to: lfyang@proplussolution.com

Pricing and Availability

ProPlus Design Systems is accepting orders now for 9812DX. Volume shipments of 9812DX will commence in Q1 2017. Pricing is available upon request. More information about ProPlus Design Solutions can be found at www.proplussolutions.com.